kcphuah

Here is the deal, I was ready to buy this 911 turbo, howver the seller is a private party. He has requested the payment to be wired before transfering the title but I have disagreed. I have proposed I will bring a certified bankdraft from TD bank and give it to him when I fly to check the car, and I need the title to be tranferred the day I hand him the draft, but he insisted to wait for it to clear.

I can only take one day off work and fly to check out the car but I don't have time to wait for 3 - 5 business days for the draft to clear. In addition, I am also concerned what if the the money is cleared but he will not do the title...you know there is nothing wrong being careful.

Besides bringing down a whole whack of cash across the border, what are my options? Thanks.

briefescape

Use an escrow service http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escrow

Crazy Canuck

When I bought my GT3 I had my sister walk into the bank with wire transfer instructions. 15 min. later the funds were in the dealer's account.

Christien

Yep, wire transfer. $30 or so service charge, for 10s of thousands, who cares. Depending on your account and how friendly you are with your banker, they can probably waive the normal limits for single transfers. Or go into the branch in advance, explain the situation, then have them do it by phone when you're down there. Have the seller sign the title over in his bank branch upon confirming receipt of funds, with the bank manager as witness, if you're really concerned.

Tango Foxtrot

One good option is travellers cheques. This is what I used (american express). If they are lost or stolen you can have them cancelled.

Mamooguy

I wouldn't transfer a dime until I was sure it wasn't a scam.

Maybe you could just make out a cashier's cheque? That shouldn't take any time to clear. Or maybe just wire it to yourself, in that location -- though are there post-911 security measures involved? I'm not sure.

Crazy Canuck

I forgot to mention, I was standing in the dealer's showroom when I talked to my sister and had already inspected the car, verified VIN ... etc. ... etc. ...

Onami

Ask your bank how they would recommend that you handle the payment were you the seller and they will tell you to have the money wired into your account before releasing title. Certified cheques are the biggest area of fraud with car deals now and no bank will tell you to accept one. If you don't use and escrow service then you will have to wire the funds...that is how everyone is doing these deals now and the only way I have done it for the past 3 years (and at least half a dozen car deals).

95C4VanIsle

I purchased a car a couple of months ago and used the wire method. I placed the funds with my broker and suggested to the buyer that he look up the number of my securities broker on the internet and contact him directly to make sure the funds to purchase the car were in my account. I provided the seller with the brokerage firm and city. The purchaser felt better at that point and fed-exed the title to me that same day. Once I received the title I gave my broker instructions to wire the money to the sellers account. The seller had already contacted his bank and provided information to my broker as to where the money should be wired.

fdss

I can see a few other problems.
How do you know there are no outstanding liens on the vehicle when buying private in the U.S. Contact the DMV in the state and research it before doing anything else.
The guy doesn't want a cheque because of fraud in the U.S. Someone can always create a cheque using a laser printer.

One option is to have the dealer do the PPI, daytime lights and recall letter for you. When everything checks out, including no liens, send the money to the dealer. Since the dealer is making a few bucks out of the deal, they will be glad to be the middle man in your purchase.

If the party you are buying he car from won't agree to this, then be careful!

old man neri

I had wired the money to the PO even before I saw the car. He was a rennlister with a lot of posts and seemed pretty trustworthy. The car sat at the PPI garage where I picked it up. Before I wired the money I had a scan of his driver's licence and the title. At the end of the day you are going to have to trust someone.

dondada

There's a lot of good advice on here, and I used it to make my purchase a few months ago - Just try to incorporate everyones advice, check the car out well (dmv etc) and enjoy the ride back


my 2 cents

Turbodan

And....make sure to keep your fingers crossed until the car and title arrive. There really is no way to be absolutely sure that your car will arrive with clean title. If somone wants to scam it is very possible to do it. so any red lights go off (something doesn't seem right) run don't walk away from the deal. Go meet the seller go to his house, ask to see mail addressed to him, if possible meet his family photograph his id, ask for references (porsche dealer, well known mechanic, banker, previous buyers of cars from him, etc) do carfax, and ppi. good luck...it is worth it.